Tempus Fugit
by L'ange de Tenebre
Summary: Lara Croft is awakened in the middle of the night by a strange presence and is forced to face her inner demons. One shot. Please R&R! :D


**DISCLAIMER: I don't own 'Tomb Raider', Lara Croft, or Manfred Powell. **

**Authors Note: Ok, so this is what I'm working with. I was watching "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" w/the commentary on the other day and I noticed this quote about Powell:**

"Iain Glen is, of course, a great stage actor. He hasn't done a lot of films, but I'd seen some of the work he'd done and I wanted to put him in this film, because he was a very evil, but, I think, a very sexy character, and I wanted my bad guy to be almost as sexy as the good guy, which is, of course, Angelina in this film, because if there is any sexual tension in the story, it's between Lara and Powell, the bad guy, and not necessarily between Lara and the good guys, because I think Lara would be more interested in a dangerous, semi-psychotic, if you like, bad guy, than the boy next door type. She's such a strong character that she's not going to be attracted to a nice guy or anyone safe, she's gonna be attracted to the character that's more likely to kill her than take her out on a date." -- Simon West, director of "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider"

**And therefore, I thought it would be kind of cool to write something along those lines. So, here it is:**

**TOMB RAIDER**

**TEMPUS FUGIT**

By L'Ange de Vrai

"Trouble sleeping, Lara?" he said, his lips softly brushing her ear.

Lara Croft stirred in her sleep, drawing her blanket up around her face as an icy wind met her fair skin. He leant down and ran a long, thin finger down her cheek and across her lips, hovering just millimeters away from actually touching her.

"You know, all those opportunities you had to kill me and all you wanted to do was kiss me," he said softly. "I could see it in your eyes, Lara."

"You're supposed to be dead," she replied, opening her eyes.

"Am I not?" replied Manfred Powell, arms held out in an open gesture.

He was dressed all in black, standing in the shadows, and looking exactly as he had the last time they'd met. Lara sat up in bed, folding her arms across her chest.

"If you've come here to kill me, Mr. Powell, go ahead and try to get it over and done with. I need to catch up on my beauty sleep." she told him sternly, her hand sliding discreetly towards the knife she kept sheathed alongside of her mattress.

Powell smiled and took a step into the moonlight. "You know as well as I do that that's not going to do any good, Lara - you can't kill a man twice."

"Well you deserve it - you murdered my father." Lara seethed.

"Trying to justify what you've done?" he mused, kneeling on the edge of Lara's bed and leaning forward.

Manfred Powell brushed his lips by Lara's ever so faintly, leaving them with an icy tingling. Lara glanced up, meeting his cold, gray eyes.

"You're despicable," she spat at him, leaning forward to meet his lips.

They touched for the first time and an icy shock shot through every inch of her body, sending her reeling backwards.

"So you are real. I'm not imagining this," she spoke softly. "What is it that you want from me, Mr. Powell?"

"We can't be on a first name basis, Lara? Oh, of course not. That would make this personal, wouldn't it. I can't imagine the guilt you'd have to live with," he mused. "I know what you want, Lara."

"Well, unless your idea of what I want includes you buggering off so that I can catch up on my sleep, I hardly doubt that." Lara replied.

Powell smiled. "That's number two on the list. You want closure, Lara. You want to know that it was a kill or be killed situation. You want justification. You want to know that I would have killed you in cold blood," he said icily, his eyes narrowed.Lara brushed a stray piece of hair from her face, listening intently as he spoke. "You want to know that Sheridan and Chen Lo would have done the same."

"I'm not a murderer, Powell. I would never kill for pleasure and I think we've established the fact that I _can_ feel guilt." Lara responded, vehemently.

"I seem to have touched a nerve," said Powell as he began to circle loftily around her bed. "Surely, you must wonder, what factor does time play in all of this? Would you have killed Chen Lo without a second thought had you not already killed so many times before?"

"He killed my _friends!_" she exclaimed. "They deserved justice! They'd done nothing to deserve that death!"

"Perhaps not, but you didn't exactly seek out Chen Lo to have a nice little chat, did you? Your answer to violence and bloodshed was absolutely Amazonian, Lady Croft - more violence, more bloodshed. And what of Mr. Sheridan? How sure were you he'd pull that trigger, Lara?" he continued in a cool voice.

Lara glared maliciously at the figure before her as he continued to pace nearby, like a tiger, sizing up it's prey. "I knew Terry better than anyone. I know he wouldn't have hesitated to pull that trigger."

"But he did. He hesitated just long enough for you to pull your own. He _loved_ you, Lara. What's to say he wouldn't have released the hammer and taken you into his arms?" he asked her.

"I'd be much obliged if you would be kind enough to stop attempting to make me feel guilty about my past," Lara responded testily. "This is about you and I, not Terry. Not Chen Lo."

Powell merely shrugged and pointed to the face of his cracked and bloody Rolex. "_Tempus fugit,_ Lara, and it's much better spent living life without dwelling on the past and the guilt. So, if you must know, if it would clear your conscience, I sincerely wish you'd have slipped and hit an artery when you turned my knife against me. Yes, I'd have killed you. Good bye, Lara."

And with that, Manfred Powell slid into the depths of the shadows and vanished. Lara turned on the light beside her bed and sat back, examining the wide scars on the palm of her hand. _It seems like that was so very long ago,_ she thought, tracing the white lines left by Powell's switchblade. _Yes, time flies..._

Le Fin


End file.
